Ultimate Load Capacity of Cable-Stayed Bridges with Different Deck and Pylon Connections

There are different connection patterns between the bridge decks and pylons of cable-stayed bridges. This paper presents an energy method of analysis for the in-plane ultimate load capacity of cable-stayed bridges with different deck and pylon connection patterns. The potential energy of the whole bridge, including the bridge deck, stay cables, pylons, and work done by external loads, is considered in the development of the bridge energy equation. The energy of the plastic zone is introduced into the bridge energy equation. Both geometric and material nonlinearities are taken into account in the analysis. The predictions of the proposed method show good agreement with experimental and ANSYS results. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.